Transitional chapters are a pain
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So the plan apparently was for the joint Fairy Tail-Lamia Scale team made up of Laki, Max, Yuka, and Toby, who Gisela was still trying to not obviously avoid, to go after the vulcans while Gisela and Mickey finished their original mission.
If there were still vulcans to fight that Mickey and Gisela would help out on the way back. Pi-chan had been dispatched with a message for Macao with the plan, everyone else seemed certain that he would be fine with it.
Gisela hoped that was true. She really didn't want to step on anyone's toes or mess up Fairy Tail's reputation or-
Breathe. She reminded herself. Breathe.
"We should be back soon". Gisela offered as she akwadly hovered around, watching as the caravan loaded up.
"Don't worry about us. We're just going to bust a nut with some vulcans. We got this".
"Laki's right".
"Don't underestimate Lamia Scale as well", Yuka added.
Gisela tried not to wince. "Got it". Hopefully she hadn't sounded like she doubted them or like she thought they were going to fail or-
She was still worrying about it when she got back onto the front seat of the caravan and to make matters more awkward Marc still sitting next to her, injuries covered with layers of white cloth.
Gisela made sure not to fling herself off when it was time to stop for lunch, as tempting as the idea was.
That would just make things more awkward when she had to get back on, it would have been a net gain in awkward would have made the rest of the day even worse even if it would have been better in the moment.
Instead Gisela jumped down sedately and went to go poke at the clearing.
I love playing bait.
The funny thing was that it was almost true. The constant background worry of wondering what type of trap she might trigger was nothing compared to the stress of having to wait with other people while someone else played bait.
Gisela was pretty sure that Mickey knew why she liked playing bait, it was something about Mickey's grin that tipped her off.
Not my worry. Instead Gisela circled the clearing, making note of the pre prepared fire pit and lean-to stacked with wood.
I wonder who loads that. She dismissed that thought, if it still bugged her later than she could always ask one of the other people.
She finished her circuit with nothing bursting out to attack her.
It was time to set up for lunch. Not that there was much to set up for the midday meal.
Something seemed off about Mickey, Gisela watched her partner from the corner of her eye as they ate the jerky and dried fruit.
It was just something about the way that Mickey held herself. About the way she moved.
Does she miss Pi-chan that much? Pi-chan and Mickey did have a bond from soul magic afterall. Gisela worried at the inside of her mouth for a few more moments before going back to watching the periphery.
I can just ask her later.
In the meantime she had something much more awkward to do. The result of two people being ambushed by vulcans while leaving camp to take care of nature was a slight problem.
And by that Gisela meant a big problem.
It had demonstrated a weakness in the buddy system: namly that two non magic humans were not a match for vulcans and could easily be possessed if they left the group. It also so happened that no one except Mickey and Gisela had magic and the ability to protect themselves from the vulcans.
In other words, the only two people who could actually leave the safety of the group in safety were Gisela and Mickey.
Thanks. Gisela mouthed to Mickey as her partner passed back into the camp with her group.
You're next, Mickey mouthed back.
Gisela reminded herself not to sigh, it would both be unfair to Mickey to expect her to do all the out of camp trips and create a bad impression on her client, neither of which were acceptable.
It didn't make it any better that Marc was in her group.
Twice.
It's not funny. Gisela tried to tell Mickey with her eyes when she passed by.
It didn't help.
This time, when Gisela was out of sight of everyone else on the trip she let herself sigh. At least it made Mickey laugh.
The other girl was definitely missing Pi-chan.
Gisela kind of was as well.
Keeping watch after an attack was always different than keeping watch before. The caravan had seen the dangers on this trip and were scared, Mickey and Gisela had to keep up a focused facade at all times now.
It made the breaks not very restful. Brakes weren't really breaks when the whole time was spent herding panicky people around.
I can't blame them though. Gisela remembered the itchy, creepy feeling of the vulcan's magic.
Remembered the way it had felt like an infection.
Had felt wrong.
Not having a defense against that would be terrifying.
It was in one of the moments when the carts were being loaded, one of the rare times when Gisela was able to interact with Mickey, when Pi-chan made it back.
The caravan kept wasn't the same without Pi-chan around, not counting the fact that the bird made a good aerial spy.
It was good for Mickey too. Gisela could see the tension relax as Pi-chan landed on her shoulder.
"We're good", Mickey said, "I just have to give a letter to Lamia Scale's guild master".
"Do you know her?". It would be nice to know what to expect.
"I've heard she's super strict with her guild members but with a guild like Lamia Scale that's to be expected".
Should I? Asking questions was always the worst part. Still, she did not want to be caught flat footed. "What's Lamia Scales guild ranking?".
'They're a combat and protection guild, kind of like Fairy Tail. They are one of the more well respected ones too. Fancy magic too, Toby's mix of paralysis magic or Yuka's ability to nullify other magics are examples. They've always been known for rare, unique magic and refinement.".
Is that why you aren't there? It was a horrible, snarky thought.
"What did you just think?".
"Nothing".
"Just say it".
"But".
"It's much more annoying when people just think things. Say it. It will be fine, I promise".
The lump was back. She had to force past it. "I was just thinking you couldn't make the refinement clause".
Gisela hadn't expected the laughter. "There's a reason I joined Fairy Tail. Lamia Scale makes good allies but I'll take the chaos anyday", Mickey paused for a moment, shifting into seriousness, "you could join if you wanted too".
Do they not want me? "Just after I joined Fairy Tail?".
"True. I'd miss you".
It was okay. Gisela felt her insides untwist. "Thanks". Should I? "I'd miss you too".
It was true.
She was still glad of the escape that sitting at the lead of the caravan gave her because there she could focus on the road ahead of her and if there were any threats that she had to be worried about.
She did not have to think about how silly that sounded. I'd miss you too. Why had she even said that?
Watch the road.
"Thank you for earlier".
It took her a few moments to procese what Marc had said. "Just doing my job".
"Still. Thank you".
"I'm glad I could help", Gisela demurred again.
Slowly the tension faded. The rest of the trip was still awkward but okay, it helped that the paranoia of the vulcan attack had faded a little as the days went by with no attacks.
There were also no bandits.
"Maybe the vulcans got them?", Mickey suggested when Gisela brought it up.
It was a credible theory.
"How many bandits are there in Fiore anyways?". Gisela still remembered the Jiggle Butt Gang.
"There have been a lot of reforms under the past few kings so fewer than there used to be, but the large wildernesses between settlements and cities make good hideouts. Some aren't true bandits without a home base either, there are also people who moonlight as bandits but are actually farmers. It's like poaching except with humans".
"That's horrible".
"It works. Once I got hired to take out this group of bandits by a village. It turned out the bandits were other villagers".
Gisela tried to picture that happening. Tried to picture dealing with that. "Sounds fun?", she offered.
"You have no idea".
It was back to work after that. Back to work city and watching and waiting. I hope Laki and everyone else are doing okay.
If three was a scouting party then…
Focus on your job. You are almost there.
Finally they were in Margaret town. Gisela watched it as the wagon bounced over the dirt road. It was surprisingly like Magnolia or Dawn City, just a little more inland. The forest had been cleared from their angle of approach and there was a tall wall around the place.
The good part of being a guard was not having to talk through customs. Gisela let Marc do that, watching the goods while the man had to painstakingly go through his ledgers and show the boxes of goods that he was bringing in.
Gisela remembered learning how to do those. Carefully going over each row and colom, feeling the piercing gaze of Chiosca or Ca over her shoulder, just waiting for her to make a mistake or-
Could I still do it?
It was a glimpse of a world which didn't belong to anymore. A world which she almost lived in.
Then it was back to her world.
Gisela was so glad that they had a message for Lamia Scale. It meant they could cut the goodbyes short, Mickey just having to ensure the payment message had been sent to Fairy Tail.
Gisela had to control the instinctive hitch when she saw Lamia Scale's building.
It wasn't quite like the temple in Caelum, there were no high walls around it and it was so much smaller.
It still sent a cart load of memories through her mind. All the moments of walking in and out, of reading the weather and meditating and everyone.
Gisela forced those memories back into their box, made herself see the differences.
There was just as much Fioran architecture as Caelum. There were weird snake women, Lamia, right, this was Lamia Scale, in front standing guard.
She was in Fiore, not Caelum.
She was with Mickey.
They had a job to do.
It inside wasn't like Fairy Tail. There was no initial bar. Instead there was what looked like a waiting room, complete with a girl sitting behind the desk. "Can I help you guys?".
"We were looking to talk to the guild master, we have a message from Yuka Suzuki and Toby Hohorta".
A door swung open. "What did my team want you to tell us?".
"Lyon".
"I'll take this for now Sherria".
There was a quick pause before Sherria was up and out of her seat and Lyon replaced her.
You're up. Gisela tried to tell Mickey with a quick glance. Her partner had been far more involved in making the plans, it only made sense that she was the spokesperson.
It worked.
"Right. I'm Mickey and that's Gisela. Pi-chan's on my shoulder. We have news about some of your mages and a little vulcan problem that might be happening in between our territoires". Mickey then started to explain what had happened.
"They're okay", Lyon demanded as soon as Mickey mentioned the vulcans fading.
"Yeah. They went on with Laki and Max to keep investigating. I don't think that this will be a normal pop them and let them fade mission. We were planning to catch back up after we got the caravan sorted out".
"Do you think they found a source?".
"Very likely. I didn't realize there was a strong ley line in between Margaret and Magnolia through".
"There isn't. We should take this to the guild master".
"Works for me. It's still Ooba Basama, right?".
"Yes".
"Great".
Gisela wanted to disagree. This was not going to go well, she already was feeling nervous about it.
The Guildmaster was tiny. Gisela was very glad that she wasn't the one who had to talk, trying to figure out if she had always been that small or if it was a side effect of her magic was distracting.
At least no one thought we had attacked the Lamia Scale members.
It was good to look on the bright side of things.
"Spin". Lamia Scale's guildmaster commanded.
Suddenly Lyon was whirling around and around, a grey blur.
Gisela glanced at Mickey, so glad she is not our guild master. Gisela would definitely take Fairy Tail's brawls over spontatus spinning.
He might have said something. Gisela reminded herself. She hadn't exactly been tuned in.
Lyno wobbled a bit as the spin stopped, leaning against a wall with practiced ease.
"Jura will be leading the team", Lamia Scale's guild master ordered. "Do you two have a problem with that?"
"No. We have heard of the Iron Rock. It would be an honor to work with him". Pi-chan chirped in agreement. Gisela wondered what had made Mickey go so formal.
Then they were dismissed, Lyon took the lead again.
Lamia Scale had a restaurant rather than a bar.
"We can wait at a table. Jura is in town so it shouldn't take that long for him to come".
"Thank you".
Lyon's face seemed to change. "Has there been any news?".
It took Gisela a second to place his question.
Mickey already had. "No news. Our searches have been futile. I'm assuming if you are asking me then there has been no news from your end".
"Damit".
Gisela shifted. It was always like this whenever Team Tenrou came up. Always these moments of silence and loss that she knew she should be able to feel, that Gisela knew she wasn't part off.
I could stop this.
But she didn't. Because there would be no point in telling people scrapes of memories that were just their friends were time locked.
Team Tenrou would come back.
Team Tenrou would come back seven years after they left and Fairy Tail would win the Grand Magic Games and-
"Yeah?". Lyon was talking to her.
"I was asking if you are a new member of Fairy Tail. I haven't seen you before".
"I am. I'm Gisela, though I'm pretty sure you've already picked that up. I'm a cloud mage".
"Maker?".
"I don't think so. I came from Caelum so I learned to shape magic differently". She would have to figure out the differences sometime, Gisela put that away in her list of things that she needed to do later box.
"I'm Lyon. I've been a member of Lamia Scale for", he looked up at the moment, "around four years now. I used dynamic ice make magic".
"You both know me, I'm Mickey Chinkentiger as I said earlier. I'm good at punching things and working with Pi-chan".
Well that broke the ice a little, enjoying the little pun Gisela went back to studying her surroundings, fingers tapping against the hard wood of her chair.
"Will Jura be-", Mickey had started to say when the door opened and a mountain of a man came through.
"I apologize for the wait. I was just finishing up my last mission".
Vaguely Gisela wondered if it was a good idea for someone who had just gotten back from a mission to be sent on a new one. Not my place, she decided.
"It's fine".
It was back to socializing again, reintroducing and explaining magic once more.
Then, finally, they were back on the road.
It was so much easier traveling without a caravan. There were no carts, no horses, and no people who needed to be escorted to the bathroom or whatever other reason breaks.
Everyone here could look after themselves at least as well as Gisela could look after them.
It was so much easier and faster this way.
That and the fact that I can fly doesn't hurt.
Okay, so it wasn't really flying but it kind of was? Gisela really wasn't sure what to call it, cloud assisted aviation? Maybe, I'll ask Mickey later.
It was interesting though, because technically Jura was in command but Gisela still found herself looking at Mickey whenever he suggested something and saw Lyon doing the same thing but in reverse.
"So we believe that the vulcans are using this cave system", Jura said, carefully expanding the area on one of the maps he had brought as they took a break by the fire. "With the speed of Gisela's clouds we should be there by mid afternoon".
"What changed? Vulcan's stay near ley lines because they need high concentrations of ethernanos in order to survive when outside of a host body".
"You remember the firing of the Etherion cannon about four years ago".
"How could I forget that mess", Mickey said, eye roll apparent in her tone of voice, "we had absolutely nothing to do with their decision but the Magic Council was cranky at us for weeks afterwards just because it was our mages that they had almost vaporized or encystalized or whatever with their reckless decision making".
Fairy Tail was involved in that. It was almost embarrassing how much she had forgotten.
"Etherion", Jura continued, Gisela was pretty sure he wanted to gloss over Mickey's rant, "created a wave of ethernanos in a massive discharge. It is possible that these vulcans have something to do with that".
"But it was years ago".
"It could have been a seal that chipped or a slow rerouting of a minor ley line".
"Or Toby and Yuka could have already taken care of this".
"That too, but since we have not heard anything from that team it is in our best interest to reinforce them".
Gisela couldn't help it. "What do we do if there is a rerouting? How do we stop the vulcans?".
"What do you know about vulcans?", Jura asked, eyes piercing.
The lump in Gisela's throat was worse than ever. "Not much", she admitted, barely more than a whisper. "We don't have them in Caelum". There might have been some outside of Dawn City, she didn't remember and pay attention-
"Vulcan's are spirits of sorts, spirits of greed. They want so they are. The first recorded mentions of vulcans were four hundred years ago, during the peak of magical experimentation in Fiore. It is because of that many people believe that the first vulcan was the artificially created being of some mages experiment, though that has not been proven. Removing a vulcan from its host body is simple, it is just a matter of forcing the vulcan to expand enough of its energy that it can no longer keep a hold on the person".
Gisela was proud of how she didn't shiver at the reminder of the creeping magic. Was it trying to possess me? "But that's not permanent, right?". She hated how awkward and stupid she sounded, like she was still a kid stuck it school.
"No, that simply forces the vulcan to regroup. What we need to do is seal them and slowly drain the energy out of the lacrima, preventing the reformation". With that Jura produced a handful of lacrima with runes carved all over the outside. "Who here is familiar with these?".
It was everyone but her.
Breathe.
It would be fine.
Learning to use them was simple, it was a matter of triggering the runes. Gisela wanted to melt in relief. I can do this.
Laki and Max were there. If they needed help then Gisela was going to help them.
They might be fine. Gisela tried to reassure herself. They might have already taken care of all the vulcans.
She somehow doubted that. She had only been doing missions with Fairy Tail for a bit but she had read enough of the manga to see them go sideways.
Breathe.